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Michael Carrizales, Psy.D.

Postdoctoral Resident

How I Work with Students:

Working collaboratively with students is central to my approach. This allows us to co-create a comfortable, safe, flexible, and engaging environment from which to work. This perspective also helps me tailor my approach to meet each student's individual values, goals, and needs. A genuine, trusting, and comfortable therapeutic relationship is the foundation upon which all other work is built, and I strive to approach counseling with authenticity, respect, understanding, and compassion.

About me:

Michael was born and raised near Miami, Florida. With a father who emigrated from Venezuela and a Jewish mother whose family experienced the Holocaust, he developed an understanding of some of the unique experiences multicultural-identified individuals encounter. These familial narratives also led to an interest in identifying and examining systems of power and oppression, and their impacts on marginalized people. Michael earned his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, IL and has continued to hone his interest of being a well-rounded generalist with an emphasis on multicultural issues. Michael has a diverse set of experiences working in hospitals and university counseling centers throughout Chicago, and also completed his doctoral internship at UC Davis SHCS. Fitting with his identity as a generalist, his experience lies within working with a highly diverse set of clients and presenting concerns. He strives to apply these sets of life experiences and the knowledge gained along the way to promote health, well-being, support, and safety for UC Davis students.

Professional Interests:

While I strive to be a well-rounded generalist, I am particularly interested in identity development, multicultural and social justice issues, the experience of first-generation students, LGBTQIA issues, depression, anxiety, trauma, and adjustment issues. I often work from a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) framework with a focus on mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches. I also integrate aspects of relational and multicultural theory into my work, and highly appreciate opportunities to explore how various cultural identities intersect with each other and aspects of life.

Dedicated to a Healthy Student Body

The mission of Student Health and Counseling Services is to enhance the physical and mental health of students in order to help them achieve academic success, personal development and lifelong wellness by providing an integrated program of quality, accessible, cost sensitive and confidential healthcare services, tailored to their unique and diverse needs and to assist the University community, through consultation and education, to develop a healthy campus environment consistent with UC Davis "Principles of Community".